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Fort Bragg, California - 7 schools
An equity score of 68/100 ranks Fort Bragg Unified #314 of 1517 districts in California (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $16,843 per pupil, Fort Bragg Unified ranks #560 of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending (California districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
1,682
Total Enrollment
7
Schools
$16,843
Per-Pupil Spending
High, Elementary
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Fort Bragg Unified operates 7 public schools serving 1,682 students, placing it among the smallest districts in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 3 high, 3 elementary, 1 middle schools, a small enough portfolio that most families will interact with nearly every campus in the district at some point. These enrollment and school figures come from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is based in Mendocino County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $16,843 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending. See how California compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 35.9% local, 51.5% state, and 12.7% federal, a state-revenue-heavy mix that insulates the district somewhat from local property-tax volatility, though it ties funding to state budget cycles. The district's equity score is 68/100, ranked #314 of 1517 in California against a state average of 50, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 7 schools offering Advanced Placement (3 AP courses district-wide), a 246.5:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 35.0% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 42.4% White, 40.6% Hispanic or Latino, 0.3% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Redwood Elementary, with a diversity index of 66.3/100.
Its largest campus is Fort Bragg High, enrolling 569 students (34% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Shelter Cove, at 5 students, a 114x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Fort Bragg High accounts for 33.8% of all Fort Bragg Unified student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Fort Bragg Unified-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: high. A single dominant campus often anchors a district's program offerings and staffing patterns; the share helps explain why district-wide averages may not reflect the typical neighbourhood-school experience. When one entity dominates a region's footprint, its programmatic and budget decisions effectively set policy for a majority of the affected population.
Fort Bragg Unified school enrollment varies 114× across entities
Fort Bragg Unified school enrollment ranges from 5 students (lowest) to 569 students (highest), a spread of 564 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Fort Bragg Unified has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 69.0% of the population qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch
free or reduced-price lunch eligibility is the federal threshold for Title I funding allocations, established under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015). Eligibility here is approaching the 75% concentration-grant threshold; it does not yet unlock the extra funding tier but sits meaningfully above the baseline 50% majority mark. Regions with eligibility this high typically draw a substantially larger federal funding share relative to their local tax base, which can either offset or reinforce existing gaps depending on allocation policy.
Fort Bragg Unified student-counselor ratio is 247:1 — low (typically associated with meeting or exceeding the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommended 250:1 benchmark, which correlates with stronger college and career counseling capacity)
student-counselor ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE counselors against total enrollment, districts that contract intervention or social-emotional staff outside the counselor classification may be under-counted Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.
Fort Bragg Unified chronic absenteeism rate is 35.0% — high (typically associated with higher-than-average disruption; recent CRDC data showed elevated rates persisting after pandemic-era schooling changes)
chronic absenteeism rate is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: a student is chronically absent if they miss ≥10% of enrolled days for any reason, illness, family obligations, or disengagement Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.
Fort Bragg Unified has 7 schools, including 3 high, 1 middle, 3 elementary. Total enrollment is 1,682 students.
How much does Fort Bragg Unified spend per student?
Fort Bragg Unified spends $16,843 per student. The district has an equity score of 68/100, ranking #314 in California.
What is the demographic composition of Fort Bragg Unified?
Fort Bragg Unified students are 42.4% White, 40.6% Hispanic or Latino, 0.3% African American, 0.3% Asian, averaged across 7 schools. Source: NCES CCD Membership 2024-25.
What is the equity score for Fort Bragg Unified?
Fort Bragg Unified has an equity score of 68/100, ranking #314 out of 1517 districts in California.